Film: The Social Network
Director: David Fincher
Written By: Aaron Sorkin (Screenplay)
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Run Time: 2 hours 1 minute
Starring: Jessie Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Brenda Song, Rooney Mara, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella
You know that feeling that you got when you walked out at the end of your first showing of Inception? That feeling of absolute awe? That feeling that you just watched an absolute master class of filmmaking by one of the best directors alive working today? Yeah, that is The Social Network in a nutshell. It is an absolute master class of filmmaking by one of the best directors alive working today that should be enjoyed by everybody who sees it.
But besides having impeccable acting, an airtight script, exceptional music and some of the most confident and assured direction I have ever seen; The Social Network works because it's not a movie about Facebook. It's a movie about Facebook in the same way that, I don't know, The Dark Knight is a movie about superheroes. It's got Facebook in it and the events revolve around the actions of Facebook, but it is not explicitly about Facebook. It is instead an excellent and thoughtful character study about people and people taking turns at screwing each other over in the most humiliating and embarrassing ways possible.
This would be the point where I fill in about plot, but seeing as it's a "true story" (I use air quotes because we all know Hollywood's penchant for "twisting" true stories a bit) there is no real point to me recapping the outline. All I'll say is that it revolves around Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg) and Eduardo Savrin (Garfield) as the best friends who, when one thing leads to another, wind up creating Facebook and the whole film's story is told through the two depositions that Zuckerberg is involved in with the Winklevoss twins (Hammer) and Eduardo himself.
It is more complicated than that but I'd rather you saw the movie and found out for yourself. The big selling point, though, is the script by the legendary Aaron Sorkin which is absolutely brilliant. It is smart, it's witty, it's logical, it's breakneck and breathless and everything that every character does is within their character. Witty banter just speeds out of these characters mouths (just watch the opening scene for a slight indication of what I'm talking about) but it never seems like something that no person would say. It genuinely seems like friends being friends, paranoid people being paranoid people and douchebags acting like absolute douchebags.
And the film isn't even impeded by its lack of good guys. Nobody in this film is a good person. Everybody is an asshole. The one good guy is poor old Eduardo and even he's shown to have the same fallibility as everybody else. The plot is literally about a group of people trying to screw each other over in the most humiliating, the most embarrassing, the most public and the most expensive ways possible. And it's absolutely fascinating.
The script is complimented by absolutely phenomenal performances from everybody involved. Armie Hammer gets an absolutely great dual role as both of the Winklevoss twins (who Zucker humorously dubs "Winklevii". Did I mention that the script is brilliant?), Andrew Garfield continues to be one of the fastest rising starS in the industry today with an excellent layered performance as the only truly nice guy in the film. Jesse Eisenberg will never ever be considered as Michael Cera-lite ever again after his world shattering turn as the slimy, well-meaning, self-centred, socially awkward Zuckerberg. But the real star is Justin Timberlake (I can't believe that I just typed that) with a show-stealing performance as Sean Parker, who takes Zuckerberg under his wing. Literally after his introduction an hour into the film, nobody else has a chance.
David Fincher's direction is so confident and assured. The cinematography helps make this feel like a David Fincher movie, even though it's the least David Fincher movie he's made yet (with the exception of Benjamin Button). He makes typing up lines of code and hacking into Harvard's servers seem as tense as most directors do when it comes to gun battles. Trent Reznor's score is also masterful and helps the overall atmosphere in spades.
I could go on praising this all day, but I think I'll be repeating myself. No one element makes The Social Network as excellent as it is. Just like Inception, it's the overall combined sum of its parts that helps make the film as great it is. When the only complaint that I can level at it is the generic way that the ending plays out (with text describing the epilogue), you know that this movie is absolutely exceptional. It truly is one of the best films I've seen all year and you need to see it right the hell now. It is going to be so hard to choose between this and Inception come the end of year lists.
5 out of 5.
Director: David Fincher
Written By: Aaron Sorkin (Screenplay)
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Run Time: 2 hours 1 minute
Starring: Jessie Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Brenda Song, Rooney Mara, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella
You know that feeling that you got when you walked out at the end of your first showing of Inception? That feeling of absolute awe? That feeling that you just watched an absolute master class of filmmaking by one of the best directors alive working today? Yeah, that is The Social Network in a nutshell. It is an absolute master class of filmmaking by one of the best directors alive working today that should be enjoyed by everybody who sees it.
But besides having impeccable acting, an airtight script, exceptional music and some of the most confident and assured direction I have ever seen; The Social Network works because it's not a movie about Facebook. It's a movie about Facebook in the same way that, I don't know, The Dark Knight is a movie about superheroes. It's got Facebook in it and the events revolve around the actions of Facebook, but it is not explicitly about Facebook. It is instead an excellent and thoughtful character study about people and people taking turns at screwing each other over in the most humiliating and embarrassing ways possible.
This would be the point where I fill in about plot, but seeing as it's a "true story" (I use air quotes because we all know Hollywood's penchant for "twisting" true stories a bit) there is no real point to me recapping the outline. All I'll say is that it revolves around Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg) and Eduardo Savrin (Garfield) as the best friends who, when one thing leads to another, wind up creating Facebook and the whole film's story is told through the two depositions that Zuckerberg is involved in with the Winklevoss twins (Hammer) and Eduardo himself.
It is more complicated than that but I'd rather you saw the movie and found out for yourself. The big selling point, though, is the script by the legendary Aaron Sorkin which is absolutely brilliant. It is smart, it's witty, it's logical, it's breakneck and breathless and everything that every character does is within their character. Witty banter just speeds out of these characters mouths (just watch the opening scene for a slight indication of what I'm talking about) but it never seems like something that no person would say. It genuinely seems like friends being friends, paranoid people being paranoid people and douchebags acting like absolute douchebags.
And the film isn't even impeded by its lack of good guys. Nobody in this film is a good person. Everybody is an asshole. The one good guy is poor old Eduardo and even he's shown to have the same fallibility as everybody else. The plot is literally about a group of people trying to screw each other over in the most humiliating, the most embarrassing, the most public and the most expensive ways possible. And it's absolutely fascinating.
The script is complimented by absolutely phenomenal performances from everybody involved. Armie Hammer gets an absolutely great dual role as both of the Winklevoss twins (who Zucker humorously dubs "Winklevii". Did I mention that the script is brilliant?), Andrew Garfield continues to be one of the fastest rising starS in the industry today with an excellent layered performance as the only truly nice guy in the film. Jesse Eisenberg will never ever be considered as Michael Cera-lite ever again after his world shattering turn as the slimy, well-meaning, self-centred, socially awkward Zuckerberg. But the real star is Justin Timberlake (I can't believe that I just typed that) with a show-stealing performance as Sean Parker, who takes Zuckerberg under his wing. Literally after his introduction an hour into the film, nobody else has a chance.
David Fincher's direction is so confident and assured. The cinematography helps make this feel like a David Fincher movie, even though it's the least David Fincher movie he's made yet (with the exception of Benjamin Button). He makes typing up lines of code and hacking into Harvard's servers seem as tense as most directors do when it comes to gun battles. Trent Reznor's score is also masterful and helps the overall atmosphere in spades.
I could go on praising this all day, but I think I'll be repeating myself. No one element makes The Social Network as excellent as it is. Just like Inception, it's the overall combined sum of its parts that helps make the film as great it is. When the only complaint that I can level at it is the generic way that the ending plays out (with text describing the epilogue), you know that this movie is absolutely exceptional. It truly is one of the best films I've seen all year and you need to see it right the hell now. It is going to be so hard to choose between this and Inception come the end of year lists.
5 out of 5.